There's a new narrative taking hold in the wake of the recent Tea Party protests and the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing: The Tea Partiers' intense opposition to the Obama administration has led to overheated political rhetoric, which could in turn lead to violence, perhaps as devastating as Oklahoma City.

Former President Clinton is the leading voice of this new narrative. In newspaper interviews, television appearances and a widely discussed speech Friday, Clinton said it's "legitimate" to draw "parallels to the time running up to Oklahoma City and a lot of the political discord that exists in our country today."

"Watch your words," warned ABC News, reporting that Clinton "weighed in on the angry anti-government rhetoric, ringing out from talk radio to Tea Party rallies."

The reports dovetailed with earlier media stories depicting Tea Party gatherings as angry mobs, accusing protesters of throwing racial epithets at black lawmakers and of making threats of violence. The implication was that all this could be part of a nationwide trend. "Just this month, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that it had tracked an explosion in extremist anti-government patriot groups fueled, in large part, by anger over the economy and Barack Obama's presidency," NBC's David Gregory said on "Meet the Press" in early April. "In this highly charged political atmosphere, where you've got so much passion, so much disagreement, this takes it, of course, to a different level."

How did this story line grow? Many of the claims that extremism is on the rise in America originate in research done by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based group that for nearly 40 years has tracked what it says is the growing threat of intolerance in the United States. These days the SPLC is issuing new warnings of new threats. But today's warnings sound an awful lot like those of the past.

In 1989, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of skinheads, saying, "Not since the height of Klan activity during the civil rights era has there been a white supremacist group so obsessed with violence. ..."

In 1992, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of other white supremacist groups, which it claimed had grown by 27 percent from the year before.

In 1995, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of right-wing militias.

In 1998, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of Internet-based hate groups, which according to one press account had "created the biggest surge in hate in America in years."

In 1999, the SPLC warned that the growing threat of Web-based hate groups was growing even more, with a 60 percent increase from the year before.

In 2002, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of post-Sept. 11 hate groups, which it said had grown 12 percent between 2000 and 2001.

In 2004, the SPLC warned (again) of the growing threat of skinhead groups, whose numbers it said had doubled in the previous year.

In 2008, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of hate groups overall, whose number it said increased 48 percent since 2000.

And in 2010, just a few weeks ago, the SPLC warned of the growing threat of "patriot" groups, which it said increased by 244 percent in 2009.

In the world of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the threat is always growing. Ronald Reagan's policies led to a growing threat. The first Gulf War led to a growing threat. The election of Bill Clinton led to a growing threat. The Internet led to a growing threat. Sept. 11 led to a growing threat. The war in Iraq led to a growing threat. Is it any wonder that Obama's presidency has, in the SPLC's estimation, led to a growing threat?

Hate groups do exist across the political spectrum, and have for a long time. But they have nothing to do with the expressions of frustration over deficits, taxes and Obamacare that we have heard at so many Tea Party gatherings. That frustration, felt by Republicans, independents and even some Democrats, is an entirely mainstream reaction to the sharply activist course the president and congressional leadership have taken. While the level of frustration is indeed a threat, it is a political threat. Ask Democrats running in this November's elections.

It's important to distinguish between a political threat and a physical one. As Clinton might say, the hate accusers should watch their words.

Liberals fear exposure more than anything. They know that the majority of the American people will not allow them to make us slaves. Their SOP is to discredit those exposing them because they can’t dispute the truth.

Ya know, the liberals are the ones who are inciting violence and racist hate. They race bait anything and everything. They play the class war fare to the extreme and we end up with anarchist beating the crap out of Republicans in New Orleans.

The Democrats and liberals need to be held accountable for the racism, hate and violence that they constantly incite!!!

We’re being set up for something, folks, and it won’t be pleasant. Our erstwhile masters are getting nervous. They are monsters, all of them. They will do monstrous things in order to secure their hold on power. History is my witness.

10
posted on 04/20/2010 11:25:15 AM PDT
by Noumenon
("Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he has grown so great?" - Julius Caesar)

It is important to be aware that the reason the TEA Party is being accused of being racist is because that was how the Federal beast successfully assassinated the previous States Right movement(Dixiecrats) in 1948.

History does tend to repeat..and success requires a full and thorough understanding of previous failures.

“Were being set up for something, folks, and it wont be pleasant. Our erstwhile masters are getting nervous. They are monsters, all of them. They will do monstrous things in order to secure their hold on power. History is my witness.”

The left knows it is their people and the special interest groups they protect who are violent. They know the left will and does cause violence. They want someone to blame when it happens.

15
posted on 04/20/2010 11:27:03 AM PDT
by AuntB
(WE are NOT a nation of immigrants! We're a nation of Americans! http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/)

Outright character assassination. The same sort of abuse the Sarah Palin has been subjected to since the summer of 2008 when she was named as McCain’s VP pick.

I’m not talking about attacks on her experience or lack thereof or even her political views.

Calling her a C***, B****, saying her baby should have been aborted, saying her daughter is a slut while championing the no count gay porno mag posing dude who knocked her up. It’s the same as BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome).

There is no rationalizing with an irrational mind. The same liberal elites who decried the HCUAA investigations as “hysteria” and a “witchhunt” now engage in a hysteria driven witchhunt of “teabaggers”. The madness of crowds has been well researched. The DUmasses are being manipulated. Tell them they are the “cool kids” and that it is okay to make fund of the “retards”. Obama, Kerry, and Clinton all were street protesting agitators yet now they decry anyone who would stand up to their agendas.

I don’t know where Sarah Palin or GW Bush found the strength to endure the attacks. I expect it as a Christian, the history of that goes back 2000 years. But this level of partisan smear via DNC/Media collusion is a recent turn of events. They seek to intimidate the voters who might oppose them at the polls.

Someone needs to ask Bill Clinton why he has returned to his tactic of the Politics of Personal Destruction.

20
posted on 04/20/2010 11:32:43 AM PDT
by a fool in paradise
(We've gone from phony soldiers to phony conservative protesters. Nothing about liberalism is genuine)

The extremism on the rise sits in the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government where the fascist pigs in power have exercised said approach with venom and malice toward a free people. The Kenyan marxist and his filthy degenerate partners are killing America slowly but surely. If this isn’t extremism, I know not what it is.

22
posted on 04/20/2010 11:34:34 AM PDT
by Neoliberalnot
((Read "The Grey Book" for an alternative to corruption in DC))

I never thought Clinton would be good for anything but in reading the article I realized that IF the mood of the opposition is indeed parallel today to his time in office, then that proves the response has nothing to do with the color of the current president’s skin. It would indicate that the response is toward something that their respective administrations have in common: arrogant intent to destroy America. (Of course, they have Hillary in common, too.) Maybe the Tea Party will next be accused of sexism. . . .

Calling it “overheated political rhetoric” is to kind. There is no compromise anymore! The whack left has gone to far for any happy talk! The Rino’s must get the hell out of the way and let the fighting begin!

I remember the day the Oklahoma city bombing occurred. I will never forget, as long as I live, the first thought that went through my mind when I first heard the news: At least they picked a government target and not a civilian target.

I did not support it or knew who did it, but there is a chasm between militant groups that target primarily government targets and those that target primarily civilian targets. In one case, civilians are collateral damage. In the other, they are the target.

They are perfectly capable of engineering a false flag op to get the ball rolling. Peoples lives mean nothing to these monsters. Those of us who survive the initial onslaught are going to have our work cut out for us.

Pray for military intervention - on the right side.

42
posted on 04/20/2010 11:54:08 AM PDT
by Noumenon
("Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he has grown so great?" - Julius Caesar)

History is also full of events where those in power were overthrown by the people...

This is my hope. History also teaches us that one determined individual can alter the course of human events. I don't believe that I am that man, but I do have my own plan of action when that fateful Day arrives. Then we'll see...

46
posted on 04/20/2010 11:58:08 AM PDT
by Noumenon
("Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he has grown so great?" - Julius Caesar)

I increasingly fear you're right. The drumbeat of propaganda is leading toward a natural denouement -- the equivalent of a Reichstag fire. Or, perhaps, the "assassination" of a minor Democrat functionary.

Clearly, there are people of the left who would be quite willing to execute either. And there are people in the White House quite capable of giving the order.

The fact that the Obama administration and the Democrat party leaders seem to have no apparent fear of electoral consequences makes me extremely suspicious.

The growing indications that the mortgage meltdown was manipulated for political gain heightens my suspicion. Any group which would intentionally destroy the nation's economy is fully capably of taking drastic steps to retain their power.

It’s worth noting that, given the nature of the those behind 0bama (Soros, et al), they won’t hesitate to sacrifice him and his family the red-hot minute his utility as a martyr exceeds his value as their Sock Puppet-in-Chief. As I’ve said, these people are monsters with absolutely no regard for human life, freedom and dignity. Monsters, all of them.

50
posted on 04/20/2010 12:03:44 PM PDT
by Noumenon
("Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, that he has grown so great?" - Julius Caesar)

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